us in our forests. (XVI.) No Castellan, nor other person, shall hold Pleas of the Forest whether concerning Vert or Venison, but every Forester in Fee shall attach Pleas of the Forest as well concerning of Vert as of Venison, and shall present them to the Verderers of the Provinces; and when they shall be enrolled and put under the seals of the Verderers, they shall be presented to our Chief Forester, when he shall come into those parts to hold Pleas of the Forests, and before him shall they be determined. And these Forest liberties we have granted to all men; saving to the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls, Barons, Knights, and others, as well ecclesiastical persons as secular; Templars and Hospitallers, their liberties and free customs in Forests and without in Warrens, and other places which before had them. Also all those customs and liberties aforesaid, which we have granted to be holden in our kingdom, for as much as belongs to us; all our whole kingdom shall observe, as well of the Clergy as of the Laity, for as much as belongs to them. But because We have now no seal, We have caused the present Charter to be sealed with the seals of our venerable father, the Lord Gualo, T. T. Cardinal-Priest of St. Martin, Legate of the Apostolical See; and of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, guardian of Us and of our Kingdom, Witness the before-named and many others. Given by the hands of the aforesaid Lord Legate,

has the words "to all his faithful subjects who shall see this Charter," which certainly allude to the extensive dispersion of it by Commissioners, who carried copies into every County to enforce its execution: and they may also have a latent reference to the private issuing of the First Charter, the circulation of which was probably much more limited: these words were also first inserted in the Magna Charta published in 1217: vide page 118. Another variation, which is likewise common to both instruments, is the declaration that the Charters were granted by the King spontaneously and of his own free will, instead of by the advice of Cardinal Gualo, the Earl of Pembroke, and his Council. This difference will, perhaps, be most particularly remarked by comparing the First and Second Charters of Henry III. with his famous third one, issued after Honorious III. declared him of full age, when the Barons suspected that he would recall the liberties he had granted them about seven years before. Vide pages 106, 119, 132; and 38 in the preceding Essay.

The intent of these Chapters of the Forest Charter being to take away the illegal extension of the Royal Woods, it will be proper to introduce them by some account of their history and boundaries, that the nature and value of these clauses may be more perfectly understood.

The greater part of Britain originally consisted of Woods filled with wild animals, which were gradually cleared as the land became inhabited and dwellings were erected; the beasts retiring to those coverts which were still left standing, and lay remote from human habitations. The Saxons called these large remains of Forest-lands, Wealds or Wolds, signifying Woods; which term is still used to express the woody parts of a County, as in the instances of Kent and Sussex. For some time these coverts sheltered great numbers of wolves and foxes, but the former having been destroyed by King Edgar, between the years 961 and 964, and the other ravening animals being also reduced, the remainder were preserved as beasts of chase or luxurious food, whence originated the first protection of

certain places for their residence, which were afterwards constituted Royal Forests. Even in the times of the Saxon Heptarchy, however, about four centuries previous, it is supposed that Forests were appropriated by all the inferior Princes of Britain; and that when one Sovereign took possession of the throne, he also became lord of the numerous Woods which lay scattered over the whole country. The first authentic notices of the Royal Limits of Forests, occur in the Constitutions, or Charter of Canute, made in a National Assembly at Winchester, in the year 1016, Articles 27, 31, 33; but the antiquity of the English Forests is so remote, that there is no record of their original establishment, though they are repeatedly mentioned in ancient authors and statutes. The New Forest in Hampshire, made by William I., and the Forest of Hampton Court, erected in 1539, the 31st of Henry VIII., are the only two of which there is any authentic history; and even many of the additions made to the former, appear to have been on the borders of an anterior Forest, called Ytene. To these ancient Forests, however, several of the early Sovereigns of England made large additions, both for preserving of the game, and increasing their sport and jurisdiction; though such extensions were particularly oppressive to those who resided in their vicinity, not only by the spoliation of their property, but by the enlarged spread of the Forest-Laws, and the vexatious influence of their peculiar officers. These ancient additions of Wood-lands were so great, that it has been computed that nearly 17,000 acres were afforested in Hampshire, between the reigns of Edward the Confessor and William I.; by which a piece of land, amounting under the former Sovereign to £363 19s. 10d., was reduced under the latter to £129. In extenuation of this oppressive practice it may be observed, that anciently a King of England could seldom divert himself by reading, or the encouragement of the more elegant arts; and, as he could not converse with common society, his principal recreation was removing his Court from one palace to another, each being surrounded by a vast Forest for the chase, which, in the view of a sportsman, could never be too spacious, whilst at the same time it was